


Random Acts of Kindness

by StarlightDragon



Series: Random Acts of Kindness [1]
Category: Supernatural, Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daycare, Businessman Jensen, Daycare Owner Misha, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Frottage, Happy Ending, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Jared Padalecki/Genevieve Cortese, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, Past Character Death, Single Parent Jensen, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-07-11 08:21:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7040581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlightDragon/pseuds/StarlightDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every morning, Jensen Ackles drops his daughter JJ off at the daycare run by Misha Collins. He barely knows the man - until the day another child accidentally spills bright yellow paint all over Jensen's suit jacket right before an important work meeting. Misha lends Jensen a spare jacket, introduces him to the idea of a random act of kindness, and maybe ends up becoming the most important person in his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Random Acts of Kindness

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for the 2016 round of the Cockles Big Bang!! (You know, that competition that I'm totally, definitely not secretly the mod of.) I've never written Cockles before, but I came up with this AU idea months ago and it just wouldn't quit, and I honestly couldn't fathom writing it for any other ship. So I really hope it turned out okay, because I would love to write more for these two stupid dorks in the future!!
> 
> The beautiful artwork embedded in this fic was made by [nikapics](http://nikapics.tumblr.com/post/145189660939/art-entry-for-cockles-big-bang-2016-made-for-a)!!

[](http://postimage.org/)   
[.](http://postimage.org/)

"Oh, fudge! I'm really sorry about the paint."  


Jensen glanced down at his suit in horror. It had been fresh from the dry cleaner's last night, and here it was now with a wonderful splodge of bright yellow poster paint running down the front of it. He had a presentation in an hour and there was absolutely no way he was going to get this mess cleaned up in time to stand up in front of the Director of Operations and talk seriously about the company's profits.

The "yeah, you should be sorry" was right on the tip of his tongue, when he glanced upwards into the eyes of the man who'd given the apology.

He was taken aback by the sincerity in them. He was used to dealing with assholes all day, for want of a better word. (Actually, he didn't want a better word at all. Assholes was a perfectly valid description and he was going to use it.) And these people would apologize when they thought it was the best thing to help them get ahead or stay in with the right people, but they didn't actually mean it.

But this man's soft blue eyes crinkled around the edges as he offered up an embarrassed smile, and Jensen felt kind of incapable of hating him.

"It's not a problem. I don't suppose you have anything that might get the paint out?"

The man thought about it, tapping a finger to his lips as he glanced around the room where twenty or so kids were running around in various states of dishevelment, some of them sitting quietly and painting, but most of them getting into sword fights with paintbrushes that still had more paint on them than Jensen was entirely comfortable with.

"We have black paint? You could paint over the stain and then it would be less noticeable at least... no?" Jensen was already looking doubtful at the other man's plan, but then the nice-eyes guy's face lit up with an idea. "Hold on! I'll be right back."

The man disappeared, and Jensen picked up his two year old daughter, who was still standing by his side. "Are you doing okay here, sweetheart? Everyone being nice? Nobody's throwing paint at you?"

"Yes, Daddy," she nodded, and despite her age it felt like she was already giving him a disapproving look.

"Yeah, yeah. I just had to check, didn't I? You'd tell me if you were mad at me, right? If you wanted me to quit my job and stay home with you? I mean, I'm not saying I'd actually do it, but I don't want to mess up our relationship by keeping secrets from each other, you know?"

"You're keeping secrets from me?"

The voice didn't come from JJ; it came from the daycare worker. He'd managed to sneak up on the two of them while Jensen was busy looking into JJ's eyes and playing with her tiny fingers while he talked.

Jensen looked up in surprise. The man was smiling just as he had been before, and Jensen wondered if he was the kind of guy who ever took anything seriously. "Uh, no, I was talking to my daughter... I know it's not exactly the most normal way to talk to your kid, but..." He trailed off, because he didn't have an actual explanation for his weirdness.

"I know that. I was just teasing you. On another note, look what I found left in the staff room from the last time we had an inspection here!"

The man held up a black suit jacket. It didn't exactly match Jensen's pants, but it was close enough that most people wouldn't notice, and it was definitely a vast improvement on his current yellow-paint-splattered option.

Jensen stared at it.

The man shook it a little, as if drawing attention to it. “You gonna take it or what?”

“Me?”

“Who else? It’s about your size, and I’m sure it’s not perfect because it’s been gathering dust for a couple months now, but it’s a slight improvement on yellow paint.”

Jensen wanted to protest and say that he couldn’t possibly accept this, but the truth was, he was going to be late for his meeting if he didn’t hurry this up.

He shrugged off his current jacket and slipped into the one being held out to him, frowning. It fit better than he expected - perhaps the other man preferred his jackets a little baggier. Jensen adjusted it and nodded approvingly.

The man chuckled. “Very handsome. I’m Misha. I’m the man who’s been a bad influence on your daughter these past few months.”

Jensen smiled. Misha. It suited the guy. “Actually, I don’t remember her ever being this well behaved before she started coming here.”

“Really?” Misha frowned, shaking his head at himself. “Then clearly I’m not doing my job well enough.”

Jensen had to smile at that, because he was at least eighty-seven per cent sure the man was joking, and so long as it _was_ a joke, it was pretty damn funny. “Yeah, what the hell am I paying you for?”

Misha put a finger to his lips. “Shh. No cursing. Small minds around, let’s not talk about the Great F-Word Incident of 2009.”

Jensen wanted to ask for details on that one. He wanted to keep this conversation going, whatever that entailed and whatever odd direction it went next. But sadly, he had responsibilities that went beyond eccentric daycare owners.

“Yeah, we wouldn’t want that. I remember reading about that one in the papers, you know. Lives lost, things got pretty bad for a while."

Misha chuckled. "Truly a disaster. I'm sure your daughter will one day read all about it in the history books."

"Ah, I'm already dreading the day when her young mind will be exposed to such horrors." Jensen offered Misha a bashful smile and shuffled his feet, some kind of magnetic pull telling him to stay put, and if it had been any day when he didn't have such a crucial meeting, he might not have even bothered to fight it. "So, I don't want to be late for that meeting I've got..."

Misha threw up his hands in apology. "Of course, of course. I shouldn't have kept you. Good luck at the meeting!"

He turned, and jogged back towards a cluster of children fighting over the hamburger from the toy food set. Jensen watched for a moment, eyes crinkling into a soft smile as he saw Misha crouch down, take the hamburger from them and offer each child a bite in turn, then pick up the toy cake and suggest that they all have dessert, too. Jensen almost felt a tear prick his eyes as he turned away, needlessly emotional, and he told himself it was just because he'd clearly made the exact right decision sending JJ here, rather than anywhere else.

The drive to work was smooth, and Jensen only had to stop at two red lights. At the second one, he found himself wondering if he would ever get to hear about the truth of the Great F-Word Incident of 2009.

\--

Jensen made it to his meeting on time. Possibly the jacket brought him some kind of luck, too, because he didn’t remember the last time a meeting had gone so well. People had listened to his ideas, given him an opportunity to speak and one of his lame jokes had even got a few chuckles. It had all been something of a miracle.  


He was half-inclined to keep it.

He chuckled to himself in the car on the way to pick up JJ, and he reminded himself that he’d done well in the meeting because he’d prepared for it the night before, and his choice of jackets hadn’t affected anything at all. He decided to stop off at the dry cleaner’s right away, just so that he couldn’t be tempted to wear it again.

When he arrived at the daycare, Jensen gave an odd little wave to Misha, who was diffusing some kind of argument between two children over a broken Lego model. Misha waved back, and Jensen half-expected him to come over and say something to him about the jacket, but he didn’t, seemingly too preoccupied with the grave importance of the Lego bricks. In fact, it wasn’t until the following Monday that Jensen next got a chance to speak to Misha at all.

He’d have quite happily struck up a conversation before then, but he felt like he needed an excuse, and for some annoying reason there always seemed to be another staff member around to sign JJ in or out for every session up until Monday afternoon, when Jensen strolled into the room, a freshly pressed and still warm black jacket tossed over his shoulder.

Misha was monitoring the kids, a keen eye trained on them at all times, but he wasn’t actively interacting with any of them, so Jensen didn’t feel bad heading over there and clearing his throat.

Misha turned to look at him, surprised, but offering him a warm, genuine smile.

"So, I brought your jacket back."

Misha blinked. "That's my jacket?"

"Yeah. I, uh, I had it dry cleaned, fixed the shoulder pads because they were all skewed, and, of course, there's the slight improvement that it's actually on a hanger now. Have you never had to wear a suit before?"

Misha leaned against the doorway, deep in thought for a moment, before raising a finger in realization. "In high school we had a careers fair. Job people came to the school and did mock interviews and presentations to help us all figure out what we might want to do with our futures, you know the drill. It was formal dress only, all the guys had to get suits for it."

Jensen nodded knowledgeably. "That sounds useful."

"Yeah, finding out we had to do that was what made me drop out."

Jensen stared at him, not sure whether to believe him or not. The way he'd said it was so casual that it threw Jensen off guard.

“Sorry,” Misha laughed after a moment of silence, not sounding particularly sorry at all. “I’ve been told some of my stories don’t end how people expect them to.”

“Yeah, that’s one way of putting it,” Jensen agreed, staring at Misha, changing the subject quickly back to something he felt more at ease with. “Seriously, though, you pretty much saved my life with the jacket, I don’t know what I would have done without it. Thanks, man.”

Misha waved the praise away. “Not a problem. You can keep it, if you’d like. It looked good on you.”

"I- what if you need it? For another inspection?"

Misha shrugged. He wasn't about to force the issue. “You don’t have to, but it really will just gather dust otherwise. I'll probably forget I have it by the next inspection anyway."

Jensen frowned. He'd seen the tag on the jacket when he took it for cleaning, and while it wasn't quite Armani, it definitely wasn't a cheap thrift store jacket that someone would usually buy and get rid of on a whim, especially not a guy who worked in a daycare. "Not to sound unnecessarily suspicious, but why would you just give me your jacket like this? It's not poisoned, is it?"

"Not poisoned, no," Misha smirked, eyes twinkling. "It's a random act of kindness. I try to do at least one every day. You do something nice for someone around you - whether you know them or not - without expecting anything in return, not even a thankyou. And it makes the world a better place. Not noticeably, of course, at least not at first. But if you do enough kind things, one after the other... maybe you'll start to see a change. In yourself if nothing else."

Jensen nodded. From anyone else it would have sounded preachy. From this guy, it didn't. "Every single day?"

"Yes, I'm trying to conquer the world with it."

"World domination? That's what you're going for?"

"You got a problem with that?" Misha remarked casually, raising one eyebrow.

Jensen shook his head quickly.

"Good. Now, do you want the jacket or not? It's fine if you don't, I'll find plenty of other opportunities for kind things to do today."

Jensen paused. Usually, he bought his suits as matching sets, so he could guarantee that the jacket and pants would work together. He was all about making a good first impression, and even if he did have a strange personal attachment to this jacket, nobody else who saw him wearing it would know about that, so he really shouldn't accept it, he should focus on looking professional...

"Well, I'm pretty sure it brought me luck in my meeting. So if you're sure you don't need it, then I'll take it."

Misha beamed, far wider than any man would be expected to after doing nothing but giving away an old jacket. "I hope it continues to bring you even more luck in meetings to come."

Jensen grinned back, not entirely sure what to say, but wanting to keep the conversation going. "Yes, I-"

"Daddy!" came a voice from somewhere around his knees, and Jensen had never, ever been unhappy to see his beautiful daughter in his life, and he still wasn't, but there was a tiny twinge of sadness in the back of his mind now that he no longer had an excuse to talk to Misha.

"Hi there, sweetheart!" he laughed, bending down to pick her up and give her a hug. Misha turned away to fetch the sign-out sheet.

\--

Jensen tossed his briefcase onto his desk and slumped down into his seat, panting from running up four flights of stairs to stop himself from being late to work. He took a moment to compose himself, pressing his iced water bottle to his face to hopefully cool the redness in his cheeks.  


"You alright there?"

Jensen looked up. There was a head hanging over the side of his cubicle.

"Dude! Will you stop doing that?"

"You're just jealous that I'm tall enough to do that."

Jensen chuckled to himself. No matter how distracting Jared was as a next cubicle neighbor, Jensen was pretty sure he wouldn't trade him for anything.

"Alright, fine, I'll play along. What's up, Jared?"

Jared shrugged. "Nothing much. Just bored. You want to play cards?"

Jared wasn't suggesting that the two of them hand playing cards over to each other across the top of the cubicle walls. They'd found this card game online where they could connect with other players if they had a password, and it hadn't yet been blocked by the company server, so sometimes they challenged each other to a game if they didn't have a whole lot of other things to do.

Jensen checked his schedule for the day. He could afford to take a break. "Course I do."

Jared beat Jensen at three straight rounds of cards. In the fourth round, Jensen thought he was coming close to winning, only for Jared to pull a sneaky trick on him and steal the game at the last minute, and it was at that point that Jensen completely gave up, because the more games Jared won, the more completely insufferable he was going to be.

Jensen banged on the dividing wall between their cubicles, and Jared's head popped over the top again, exactly five seconds later, like clockwork. Or a Jared-in-the-box.

"I'm done. I don't want to play this stupid game with you anymore."

"You're just jealous because I'm winning. As usual," Jared smirked.

"See, this is the reason why I don't want to play with you ever. You get all cocky like this and then you're an asshole for the rest of the day."

Jared's eyes glittered, and Jensen realized a moment too late that he'd just fallen into a trap that he had no hope of escaping.

"Alright. Fine. I won't tease you any more for being completely shit at cards, if you tell me what - or more likely, who - has had you smiling so much these past few days."

Jensen's eyebrows shot up. He hadn't noticed that he was smiling any more than usual. He thought he'd been doing a pretty normal amount of smiling, actually. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Like hell you don't. Let me tell you what I think happened. It all started the day you showed up to work wearing a jacket that wasn't yours. Don't worry about it, nobody noticed but me, I just know that you always match your suits and that one didn't match. Meaning. You got laid the night before, you stayed over at that person's house and then you had to borrow a jacket from them the next morning for work. And considering you've been smiling ever since, something's still going on there. Does Jensen have a boyfriend?"

Jensen snorted. "You've got completely the wrong idea."

For once, Jared was wrong. Usually, he was an annoying little shit who managed to be right about everything, but here, he'd invented a completely false situation with no basis. Jensen wasn't sleeping with anyone, he definitely wasn't dating anyone--

\--but the smiling thing.

Was that true?

His mouth fell open and he stared at Jared in horror. "Have I really been smiling more?"

Jared's smirk got bigger. "So much more. Usually you frown pretty much all day, but recently you've been smiling at nothing. Smiling at your computer when you're supposed to be filing reports. Smiling at the paper you take out of the photocopier. It's not natural."

"I haven't slept with anyone," Jensen insisted.

Jared waited, and then, when it seemed like Jensen wasn't going to volunteer any further information on his own, prompted, "But...?"

Jensen buried his head in his hands. "But I've started talking to the guy who works in JJ's daycare. He spilled paint on my jacket one day. And I couldn't get it out so I borrowed one of his jackets instead. And that's all that happened, I swear. But then I cleaned it and gave it back and... and we've been talking every morning since."

"And he makes you smile," Jared confirmed.

"And the increase in smiling happens to be coincidental with my meeting him," Jensen corrected.

Jared scoffed.

"Yes, he makes me smile. You make me smile. JJ makes me smile. He's a friend, you know? I don't have a whole lot of those. He's a cool guy."

"Right, yeah, because I get all flustered when I get accused of maybe having a crush on every 'friend' of mine," Jared said, his sarcasm levels breaking the meter.

"Alright, whatever, you asshole. Now get your work done and stop wasting company time by talking," Jensen scowled.

"You're no fun since you got that promotion." Jared rolled his eyed and flicked a balled up Post-It Note at Jensen like a twelve year old.

Jensen shook his head. He'd prove that wrong at lunchtime.

\--

Jensen wasn't exactly sure what motivated him to do it. Maybe it was that he and JJ had both been extra quick to get ready that morning. Maybe it was that it was the first sunny day of the year and the weather already had Jensen in a much better mood than usual. Maybe it was that he and Misha had had a particularly long conversation last night, during which they'd swapped movie recommendations, each of them making a long list of things they thought the other must see, promising to each watch at least one over the weekend, and report back to each other on Monday.

But whatever caused it, Jensen found himself one Friday morning with a little bit of extra time on his hands as he drove to the daycare, and he decided, completely on the spur of the moment, to swing into the garden center.

He didn't have much time to spend browsing all the plants, but it didn't take him long to make decisions - the right ones seemed to just jump out at him. He liked the cacti initially, but he didn't want the kids to prick their fingers. Anything poisonous was out of the question for the same reason. Anything too green was kind of boring to look at.

But by the time he walked into the daycare, he had his arms filled with brightly colored flowers in pots - a whole rainbow of them, every color of the spectrum, every color that he saw when Misha smiled at him.

Misha stared at the plants when Jensen showed up in the main room. "What is this, take your plant to work day or something? Son of a trench coat, did I forget mine?" He pretended to look furious with himself.

Jensen laughed and shook his head. "No, they're... they're actually for you. I know you have some amazing decorations already and the kids are always making you beautiful artwork for the walls, which is very kind of them to share their talents with the world... but all the same, I figured a little extra oxygen in the room, make the air a bit cleaner. I thought you'd appreciate that."

He wasn't sure why, because they'd never actually talked about it, but he saw Misha as the kind of guy who would enjoy looking at plants all day.

"You got me plants?" Misha confirmed, and Jensen thought he might have actually surprised Misha for the first time.

"I did. They're nothing special, I just got them from the garden center, they probably won't even live that long, but I thought... it's spring, and they'd look good. I suppose it's a random act of kindness."

Misha nodded, a small, proud smile playing across his lips, and he immediately started clearing things off the front windowsill. There were the strangest assortment of items there already. A set of car keys - those made sense - but then there was half a bottle of Smart Water, a cherry flavored lip balm, the king from a chess set, an elephant made of matchsticks, a large jade green crystal, a watch with the battery missing, a replica World War Two battleship.

Misha swept all the objects into a plastic bag, leaving the windowsill completely clear, and then he was taking the plants from Jensen and arranging them in color order, creating a rainbow so that when you glanced along the line, you saw red through yellow through blue through purple through pale pink. He resisted any attempt of Jensen's to help him, moving, almost dancing, as he finished arranging them, not stopping until he was done.

Finally he stood back to admire the arrangement of flora. "Beautiful, if I do say so myself."

Jensen had to hold himself back from making the obvious comment about how, yes, Misha was indeed beautiful. He figured that would give off the wrong impression.

"They definitely brighten up the place even more than it already is," Jensen agreed, glancing around at the bright primary colors of the walls, and the drawings and paintings that adorned them.

"It's a nursery. Can never have too many colors. Why do you think I never wear plain whites and blacks to work?" Misha asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jensen glanced down at his own outfit, a little guilty. He was wearing a black suit over a white shirt, paired with a grey tie with thin blue stripes running through it.

Misha glanced at Jensen's outfit too, eyes flicking him up and down, and Jensen felt his face grow hot. 

"Well, you don't work in a nursery," Misha finally pointed out, sounding a little awkward, as though he thought he'd said something wrong.

Jensen shrugged. "True. But maybe I could use a little more color in my life."

"Words to live by," Misha nodded in agreement.

\--

"So. I might have something for you."

It was a few weeks later - just long enough that Jensen was used to seeing one of the kids watering the flowers each morning (according to the Flower Watering Schedule Misha had drawn up in crayon and taped to the wall) but not long enough that buying the flowers wasn't still fresh in his mind. As usual, Jensen and Misha had talked every day since, but the flowers hadn't been mentioned.

"You do?" Jensen assumed it was going to be something boring. How long had JJ been going to the daycare? Maybe there were some more forms Jensen had to sign, confirming that she'd be staying for a while longer. Maybe it was an invitation to some kind of summer party the daycare was throwing - they'd had a fete last summer, so who knew?  


It wasn't either of those things. Misha held up a carrier bag emblazoned with the name of a local men's clothing store. Not a ridiculously upmarket place, but nice enough that the clothes would be well made. Jensen already shopped there pretty often when he needed new things.

"I apologize if you think this is overstepping at all, but I couldn't help but think back on our conversation about me wearing bright colors to work... and the more I looked at you, the more I noticed that you wear white shirts every day, and all of your ties are fairly plain, too. And I'm not suggesting you start wearing a bright turquoise suit to work with a fluorescent yellow shirt underneath, but I thought... maybe a splash of color would do you good."

Jensen took the bag and opened it. Inside were three shirts - one pink, one purple, and one blue - along with three brightly patterned ties, and even a pair of bright red suspenders that perfectly matched one of the ties.

"I can return them if you're not going to wear them, it's not a problem. And I had to guess your size, but I'm usually pretty good at guessing these things. And I wanted to surprise you, because you surprised me with the plants."

This was different, though, Jensen insisted inside his own mind. The plants thing had been a spontaneous adventure that he'd barely thought about, just swinging round the garden center on instinct, and it had hadn't even made a dent in his paycheck. Misha had clearly been planning this one out, taking note of Jensen's clothes every day, looking to see what styles he wore and what colors might look good on him, and he'd probably spent a significant amount of money on these, too.

"Like I say, no obligation. I understand that you might prefer plainer colors for a reason."

"No, I love them," Jensen said quietly. It was true, he usually preferred to blend into the background, but as soon as he saw these clothes, he somehow found himself wanting to duck into the bathroom so that he could change into them. If he had to explain it, he'd say that maybe Misha made him feel more colorful.

"But I can't actually let you give them to me. I mean, this is a pretty big gift for someone who you only see for a few minutes a day. I dread to think of how much it would cost you to go around buying presents like this for every parent here. How much do I owe you?"

Misha frowned. He looked genuinely surprised - even concerned - that Jensen would even offer him anything. "I think that you giving me money in exchange for these clothes would rather defeat the purpose of a random act of kindness, wouldn't it?"

Jensen still looked skeptical, so Misha continued. "And I don't do things like this for every parent in the daycare. I do things that inspire me, when they inspire me, and don't worry, I mostly make sure that I'm still able to eat after doing such things."

"Mostly?" Jensen's eyes widened, his fatherly instincts kicking in, and he wondered if his next random act of kindness should be stocking up on staples such as crackers and peanut butter so that Misha had emergency food in his house for the next time he took one of his ideas a little too far.

Misha shrugged. "Sometimes making other peoples' day is more important than a nice meal. Certainly makes me feel better. Maybe that's selfish of me, but there you go."

"Selfish of you?" Jensen chuckled, thinking that Misha's definition of selfish was definitely a little different to most other people's.

Misha just shrugged.

"Anyway. As usual, I should probably get going. I wish I could stay and thank you more for the clothes, because you honestly did not have to do this for me, but I can't really be late for work." By this point it felt like Jensen was saying this on autopilot every day, more as a reminder to himself than to Misha, because it would be so much easier for him to just stay there and while away the day making insignificant conversation about fascinating things, with no more than brief pauses for Misha to make sure the kids weren't causing too much havoc.

"And I wouldn't want to keep you," Misha confirmed, gesturing for Jensen to head out the door. He had a strange smile on his face as they parted, one that Jensen couldn't quite figure out.

He wanted to, though. More than anything in the world, he wanted to.

\--

"We need you to stay late."

It was the way Mr Buckner said it, more than anything else, that pissed Jensen off. It was so casual, as though it wasn't a big deal to ask for this, as though Jensen didn't already work all day every day and as though he clearly had nothing better to do than stick around for as long as Mr Buckner wanted. Jensen didn't mind the uncomfortable chair or the annoying flickering light right above his desk that hurt his eyes after he'd sat there for too long. He didn't mind the fact that he felt a bit dizzy whenever he looked out of the window because of how many floors up they were. He didn't even mind all the tedious work he'd have to do with no good distractions after everyone else had left.

He definitely did mind the fact that he wouldn't get to spend quality time with his daughter.

"Mr Buckner, I have to pick my daughter up from her daycare at six. It's not really possible for me to stay, but I could do some work from home tonight if there are things you really need me to do?"

It was a compromise that usually worked. Neither of them were all that happy with it, but they could agree on it, and that was enough.

"No, we need you here. There are meetings, we have people flying in to talk to us who were supposed to be here at lunchtime, but their flights got delayed. they're here now, and I won't let things get delayed any further. Come on. Boardroom two. Follow me."

Jensen grabbed his phone off his desk, wondering to himself why the hell nobody had thought to mention this to him sooner. He hurried after Mr Buckner, planning to send a quick text to Misha as he walked. He didn't know what he was going to say that could help - a text really didn't seem to cut it, but he figured that he'd just promise to get back to Misha with more information as soon as he could. If Jared didn't have to stay too, maybe Jensen could ask him to go pick JJ up. That might work. Still, he felt bad.

He felt even worse when he tried to open his phone and found the battery completely dead.

\--

It was coming up for eight o'clock, and Misha was pacing the room, each circuit getting a little more frantic as he grew more and more anxious. He dug his fingernails into his palm, trying to focus.

He'd called Jensen a good ten times since the daycare had let out, but each time, the phone had gone to voicemail. He was genuinely concerned by this point. It wasn't exactly protocol to call anyone else but the parents unless the child themself was in danger, which JJ certainly wasn't - and Misha was more than happy to keep her overnight, especially considering how good she was and how he probably wouldn't even notice her there - but he was starting to get really worried about Jensen. The man was always on time, not like some of the parents, and he genuinely cared about JJ. Again, not like some of the parents.  


Ten more minutes, he decided, and then he was going to ring one of JJ's emergency contacts.

He noticed that JJ had fallen asleep on the floor, exhausted after a long game of Hungry Hungry Hippos, slumped against the side of the armchair. It couldn't have been a very comfortable position. Misha bent down and scooped her up, holding her in his arms and brushing a stray strand of blonde hair out of her face, taking a seat in the chair.

 _"Your little hand's wrapped around my finger, and it's so quiet in the world tonight,"_ Misha murmured to himself, the song spilling from his lips without him even having to think about it, hoping that it would soothe her and stop her from waking up. The last thing she needed was to be worried, too. "Your little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming, so I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light."

He rocked JJ in his arms, but she was a little too big for rocking in the armchair, and he kept getting worried about bumping her head on one of the arms, even though the chair was soft.He stood, and began to stroll around the room again, his pace less hurried this time. JJ calmed him, somehow.

 _"To you, everything's funny. You've got nothing to regret. I'd give all I have, honey, if you could stay like that,"_ he continued, closing his eyes as he got into the music, swinging JJ a little more. She didn't wake.

 _"Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up. Just stay this little,"_ he sang, his voice growing louder as he had to strain to hit the notes, despite his key change. _"Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up. It could stay this simple."_

He bent down and kissed her forehead before singing the next line. _"I won't let nobody hurt you. Won't let no-one break your heart."_

He paused in front of the window, gazing out, searching for the familiar headlights of Jensen's car bursting onto the street. _"And no-one will desert you. Just try to never grow up."_

Still no sign.

\--

Jensen drove almost twice the legal speed limit on the journey from his work to the daycare. He wouldn't usually have been so reckless for anyone, but this was his daughter and all regular rules went right out the window. He pulled up in the little parking lot, panting with his hair sticking to his face as though he'd just finished a workout, even though all he'd done was sit there, and he threw himself out of the car and ran up to the building as fast as he could, pounding on Misha's door, hoping it didn't startle him too much.

He still hadn't caught his breath when the door swung open. Misha didn't look concerned as such, just curious, and even though Jensen's mind was almost entirely focused on JJ, he still managed to spare a thought for how adorable it was that Misha was so endlessly curious about everything.

Misha was holding JJ, and his confusion became relief as soon as he saw who was waiting in the doorway.

"Daddy!" JJ shouted immediately, stretching her arms out for Jensen, and Misha handed her over right away without question, stepping aside to let Jensen through the door.

Jensen dropped down onto a comfortable chair in the main room, thinking that he owed Misha an explanation, and that he wanted a chance to catch his breath. "I'm so sorry, man. I really am, I tried to get in contact, but I kept getting dragged into meetings, and my phone was dead, and by the time I got to a charger I figured it'd be quicker just to get here, and I know you probably had plans tonight or something and I totally fuc- fudged you over for them, and I feel so bad, and if there's anything I can do to fix things..."

He was going to say more, but he found himself out of breath again, panting as he tried to get himself back to normal.

"It's fine, Jackles, don't worry about it."

Jensen snorted, staring at Misha in bemusement. He hadn't thought anything could distract him from his mess, but as usual, Misha had thrown him for a loop. "Dude, what did you just call me?"

Misha had the nerve to not even look embarrassed. "I called you Jackles. It's a mashup of your first name and your last name, I believe these are all the rage these days. For example, according to a shirt I saw one of the children wear today, the kids are now calling Taylor Swift ' _T-Swift_.'"

Jensen fought back a giggle at that. "Alright, alright, so what do I call you, then. M... Mollins? Is that right?" He shook his head, unable to believe this conversation was real.

Misha pulled a face. "I'm not going to stop you, but I'm not sure it works so well with my name."

"I'll find something else," Jensen promised, waving away the rejected nickname.

"Yes, I'm sure you will. So, is everything okay? I don't at all mind keeping JJ for longer than usual, she's a wonderful child and she's never any kind of hard work, but... I wanted to make sure that you were all right."

Jensen nodded. He'd temporarily forgot why he was here, but now his guilty feelings were coming back all over again. "Right, yeah, I'm fine. Just pissed at my boss for grabbing me five minutes before I was supposed to walk out the door and demanding I stay for another three hours."

"You should come work for me. I'd never ask you to do that."

Jensen laughed aloud again. Misha had this incredible effect on him where he always managed to say the thing that Jensen least expected. It was disorienting, but not necessarily in a bad way. 

"I can't work for you. I love JJ, but being around twenty kids, all day, every day? I'd end up punching walls. And I don't think you'd be all that happy with me then."

"Walls are replaceable. Just so long as you don't go punching any kids, I won't get too mad at you."

Jensen shook his head. "Yeah, no, I'm not gonna do that. I like my job, it's just when shit like this happens - when _things_ like this happen, that I get annoyed. And you shouldn't be being as nice about it as you are, by the way." Jensen sighed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his wallet. "How much do I owe you for the extra, unplanned daycare? Well, nightcare, I suppose?"

"Forget it. It wasn't your fault, and I wouldn't have been doing anything tonight except staying in and watching movies. Honestly, I quite enjoyed the company."

Misha gazed off into the distance, and he almost looked lonely. For a crazy moment, Jensen considered asking Misha if he wanted him to stay, have some more company while he watched his movies. But then he remembered that Misha was the crazy person in this room, and there wasn't room for both of them to be crazy, so Jensen should just keep his mouth shut and get out of there.

"Right. Well. I mean it, if you change your mind and need extra money for something, or if there's any kind of favor I can do in return, just... say something next time you see me. And I don't want to take up any more of your time, so we'll get out of here, shall we?"

He bounced JJ in his lap, and she whined in his arms, sleepy.

"Yes, it definitely looks like it's sleep time for somebody," Misha agreed, chuckling and leaning over to ruffle JJ's hair. 

Jensen was very aware of how close Misha was to him when he was doing that. He was also aware of the fact that it was only the three of them in the room right now, as opposed to most of their conversations, which happened in the middle of the room with all the other parents and kids filtering in and out around them

"Yeah. Little one's going straight to bed when we get back, and honestly, I don't think I'll be far behind her. You should get home too."

Misha jerked his thumb towards the ceiling. "You mean upstairs? I don't exactly have far to go."

Jensen raised an eyebrow in surprise. He'd had no idea that Misha lived right above the daycare. That made this feel even more intimate somehow, like he was sitting on Misha's actual couch in Misha's actual home.

He swallowed, hard. This wasn't about him. The only link between Misha and Jensen was JJ, and without her, there wouldn't be anything between them. If they'd met anywhere other than the daycare, they'd just have passed each other by and not thought anything more of it. Right?

"Okay. Yes. Upstairs is good, means you don't have to go out in the cold. Have food, wrap yourself in blankets... sorry, that was dad mode kicking in, wasn't it? I'm blabbering now, I'll leave."

Jensen picked up JJ and headed for the door, waving to Misha as he left but not really trusting himself to open his mouth again.

\--

There was a moment, at the end of every single day at the daycare, when the last parent left for the day with their child, closing the door behind them - and Misha immediately slumped to the floor with exhaustion.  


It wasn't that he didn't love his job. He did, and he didn't ever want to do anything else. But he also couldn't think of anything else in the world that was more tiring, and with the amount of days off he got (spoiler: not very many) he ended each day feeling pretty drained no matter how much sleep he'd gotten the previous night.

He heard a chuckle from the doorway and looked up from his spot in the middle of the floor to see Felicia leaning against the doorframe.

"It's alright for you," Misha groaned, "You only worked the afternoon shift."

She only chuckled harder, walking over to sit crosslegged in front of Misha. "You okay there? You need a backrub or something?"

He nodded, and she moved round to his other side, getting started on his shoulders. Almost immediately, he relaxed back into her hands, sighing with relief.

"So, I can't help but notice..." Felicia began, and Misha groaned.

"Can't I have at least two minutes of peace and quiet to enjoy my backrub before you start with whatever gossip you're about to lay on me?"

"Nope!" Felicia replied cheerfully.

Misha took a deep breath, and when he let it out, he was smiling. If nothing else, Felicia was one of those people who was always able to cheer him up just by being around. "Fine. What can't you help but notice?"

"The one dad. Young guy, kind of caramel colored hair... you might even call him dreamy."

Misha thought that if Felicia hadn't currently been massaging his shoulders, she would have been nudging him with her elbow and winking. "I believe you are referring to Jensen Ackles. What about him?"

"You talk to him. A lot. Every day."

"He has a child who goes here. Of course I have to talk to him."

Felicia snorted. "When you see him show up, even if someone else is way closer to the door, you run so that you'll be the one who gets to see him."

Misha sighed. "If you're implying that there's something going on between the two of us, I'm pretty sure he's married."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, the ring, for one. Those things do tend to be a giveaway," Misha retorted.

Felicia's hands moved further down his back now that she'd worked out most of the knots in his shoulders. "Look. I'm not saying I've been stalking him, but I did a tiny bit of digging. Just looked at the files we already have on JJ, you know, the information this man has chosen to give to us."

"Stop trying to justify your stalking and tell me what you know," Misha said, unable to hide his chuckle.

"Yes. Alright. Yes. There's no mother listed in her files, no partner at all. If Jensen was married, then surely his wife would be listed as an emergency contact. But JJ's emergency contacts are Jensen's mother, and a work colleague of his."

Misha raised an eyebrow that was definitely worth raising even though Felicia couldn't see it. "Interesting."

"Indeed," she smirked. "Want me to do some further prodding?"

"You've done enough," Misha laughed. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close for a real hug. "I'll take it from here, but if you're expecting something to happen... he's the parent of a child under my care. It wouldn't be ethical."

Felicia rolled her eyes. "I'm telling you to take the guy to dinner, not kidnap him for a child-free sex and strippers vacation in Cancun. You're allowed to have dinner with whoever you want. Nobody's going to complain."

Misha shrugged. He didn't have a retort, and he didn't really want one. Truth be told, he loved the idea of taking Jensen to dinner - a whole evening where the two of them could talk and get to know each other, no distractions. It sounded like heaven.

\--

Misha had always tried not to think too hard about JJ's mother before, but now that Felicia had raised the topic, that dam had burst and he couldn't get it out of his head. After a week spent staring at the simple gold band around Jensen's finger, wondering, Misha decided he couldn't wait any longer. He had to say something.

He waited, looking for a suitable gap in the conversation, and then finally-

JJ was playing with the toy food; hardly a rare occurrence, but this time she was pretending to chomp down on the chicken drumstick, which made Jensen laugh.

"Hey, I was planning on making chicken drumsticks for dinner tonight!"

Misha's heart pounded. This was the moment; he had to play this right. "You, uh, you cook?"

Jensen smiled. "Yeah. Every night when I can. I want JJ to eat well."

"So, is there anyone else at home?" Misha asked, trying to make it sound like a throwaway question.

"Uh, right now?" Jensen's expression changed, and it might have been Misha's imagination, but it sounded like he was being evasive.

"I mean in general. Obviously there's you and JJ, but do you have any other kids... a w- partner, maybe...?

Jensen chuckled, but it wasn't his usual easy laugh. He sounded uncomfortable. "Uh, no. Just me, JJ and the dog. Oscar."

"Oscar. That's a good name."

"Yeah, well, he's a good dog."

The two of them stood in the tensest silence they'd ever had with each other.

Misha knew that Jensen didn't want to keep going with the conversation, but he hadn't pushed things to this point only to give up without finding out for definite. "So, JJ's mother is..."

"Why's that any of your business?" Jensen challenged, folding his arms.

"I don't know! I just thought, you know, maybe I should know. In case we do a... family day, or something. Like, the kids have to draw pictures of their families, and I should know who to expect in the picture." Even as he was saying it, Misha knew it was a flimsy excuse.

"You know what? You could at least admit to being nosy about my family, without dragging my daughter into this. Whatever. We gotta go, I'll see you tomorrow. Or something."

Jensen grabbed JJ off the floor, knocking over the plate of gourmet food she'd been carefully constructing, carrying her out of Misha's front door without a backwards glance. Misha just stood there in shock, watching the two of them leave, wondering how he'd managed to fuck things up quite as badly as he had.

He could lose Jensen, and that would be fine, because that would be his own damn fault. But if Jensen pulled JJ out of the daycare, Misha was pretty sure he would never forgive himself. Because that would be a kid who'd had her routine disrupted and lost everything she knew, and that went against all that Misha worked for here.

He cared about the kid. Possibly the most out of all the kids, not that he would ever admit that outside of his own head. And maybe that was partly because of his feelings for Jensen, but it wasn't entirely. She was just a really great kid - though Misha supposed the two went hand in hand, because of course a guy like Jensen would raise a great kid. And he couldn't believe he'd been so stupid. So selfish, putting his own relationship with Jensen above JJ's wellbeing.

He turned towards the window and hoped that nobody would see the tear that dripped into the freesias.

\--

Jensen purposefully made sure he was a little later than usual the next night, spending a few minutes driving around town before he showed up to the daycare, dropping by a Starbucks to pick up some sugary caramel drinks for the two of them. He was still well within the time he was allowed to pick JJ up, but he hoped that this way, the daycare would be a little quieter.

For once, it wasn't Misha who met him at the door. It was a young woman with short red hair and a grin bigger than any Jensen had ever seen, one that somehow hadn't been diminished by a whole day dealing with children.

The grin got even bigger when she saw who it was. "Hey. You must be Jensen. Come to pick up JJ?"

Jensen nodded, a bit taken aback and definitely not expecting the unfamiliar face. "Yeah, that's right. I'm sorry, I don't know who you are."

She held out a hand. "My name's Felicia! I work here part time. You didn't think Misha was some kind of magical child wizard who managed to keep control of every kid here all on his own, did you?"

Jensen laughed, because he knew there were other people that worked there, but he'd just never paid attention to any of them. Not because they weren't worth paying attention to, but just because... they weren't Misha. And Misha was very distracting.

"I didn't think that, no, though I'm sure he could manage that if he wanted to, don't you think?" Jensen raised an eyebrow, and for some reason, Felicia squealed and covered her mouth with one hand.

"Yeah, of course he could. And I'm very glad you agree," She winked at him, and Jensen just blinked back in confusion.

"There any chance I could talk to him? I know he's probably busy or whatever, and I don't mind waiting, but it's kind of important."

Felicia nodded, trying to hide her grin, which seemed to get even bigger with every word Jensen said. "I'm sure that no matter what he's doing, he'll always be able to spare some time for you. I'll just go grab him."

Before Jensen could ask what exactly she meant by that, she whirled around and headed through to the kitchen, where Misha was making snacks for some of the kids. It wasn't technically part of his job, but, he knew that some of the parents forgot to bring food with them when they picked their children up, so he liked to have things on hand just in case. He was worried about some of them not getting enough food.

"Hey, Misha. Jensen's out the front."

Misha nodded without turning around, and he continued slicing up cheese. "Yep. Saw his car pull up."

"And you didn't go over to talk to him? You always go. I kind of thought you were scared about letting me loose on him."

Misha chuckled, but there wasn't the same humor behind it as usual. "Yeah, that too. No, mostly I'm just not sure he really wants to talk to me after last night."

"That's such codswallop. He asked me just now if I could go fetch you for him."

Misha's mouth went dry, and he paused with his knife halfway through the cheese block. Shit. This couldn't be good. Jensen avoiding him was completely fine, and he could deal with that, but Jensen wanting to talk to him... all he could think was that Jensen wanted to pull JJ out of the daycare. And that was the worst possible outcome.

"Right. Thanks for letting me know," he said, ducking his head as he walked towards the door.

"Do you want me to finish the snacks?" she called after him, having the good sense not to ask any further questions, despite her obvious confusion.

"That's be great, thanks," he mumbled, and then he left the room, carefully picking his way through an assortment of stuffed animals that had spilled over the floor, making his way over to where Jensen was leaning against the wall by the window. The way the late afternoon sun was filtering through the glass and reflecting off Jensen's face made him look even more beautiful than usual, sparkling like some kind of angel.

"Jensen," Misha croaked, once he was standing right in front of him.

Jensen opened his eyes; it almost seemed like he'd been basking in the sun. He didn't look angry. He didn't even look like he was about to start a serious conversation.

In fact, his face split into a smile when he saw Misha. A genuine smile, not a forced one to try to ease a difficult moment.

"Hey there, Mish."

Misha had been about to say something else, but it died in his throat. "Mish?"

"Told you I'd find a nickname for you, didn't I? I know it's not all that creative, but... I like it."

Misha nodded, and now he was smiling just as much as Jensen. "I like it too. And you might be surprised to learn that nobody else uses it. So it's unique."

"Just like you," Jensen pointed out.

Misha nodded, because it wasn't like that was something he could realistically deny. "Yes, I suppose so. So, was there a reason you asked Felicia to go get me? Or did you just want to... give me a nickname?"

Jensen chuckled. "That was the most important thing, yes. That, and the fact that I didn't see you this morning, and by this point, it would just feel wrong if I went a weekday without talking to you. Like there had been... something missing." He cast his eyes to the floor, blushing.

Misha didn't know what to say to that. He knew he and Jensen talked every day, but he figured it was more out of necessity on Jensen's end than any actual desire to be in his presence.

"And then the third thing was that I wanted to apologize for my reaction the other night. When you asked me those questions about my family, and I got angry and left - I shouldn't have reacted like that. I know you weren't trying to be rude, and I should have handled the situation better."

Misha shook his head, taking all the blame onto himself. "No, _I'm_ sorry. I put you in an awkward position and I should never have brought it up in the first place."

"No, you had every right to be curious," Jensen shrugged. "I should be used to questions by now, I get them all the time from strangers, and - it's you. You're curious about everything. It was bound to come up at some point."

"Shall we just forget the conversation ever happened?" Misha suggested, endlessly relieved that Jensen wasn't going to take JJ out of the daycare. And almost as relieved that Jensen wanted to keep talking to him every day, if he was honest.

"No, I don't think so." Jensen took a deep breath and focused his eyes on Misha's, and Misha could almost see him gather all his confidence. "Can we go somewhere private? Actually, no, it's fine. I'm just gonna tell you here, because it doesn't matter if anyone overhears. I have to start being honest about this someday."

"Are you sure?" Misha checked. "Plenty of places we can go if you need to."

"No, I'm fine," Jensen insisted, taking another couple of deep breaths. "So here's the thing. When JJ was born, I was married to her mother, and she and I were really happy. And the two of us, we had big plans for the future, we were gonna have lots more kids after JJ, and we were both gonna have great careers, too, but part time. So that each of us could stay at home with the kids some of the time and make it so we didn't have to hire anyone, or send the kids to a daycare like this one. Because we both thought it was important for parents to stay with their kids, if they possibly could. But we also both wanted to focus on ourselves and make money so that we could take the kids to Disneyland and give them nice birthday presents and put college funds away and make it so that they'd never have to worry about money. Man, we had it all planned out, we really did..."

Jensen had a faraway look in his eyes, but the next part of the story pulled him back to the moment. "But, then, it all got fucked up. I'm sorry. Fudged up."

"It doesn't matter. You can curse if you need to," Misha said quietly.

"Right. You know what, I will. It got fucked up, it really did, there's no other word that's good enough here. Cause JJ was born, and then my wife, she got some kind of infection, and the doctors didn't _fucking_ notice it. She said that she thought something was wrong and they brushed it off and said that it was nothing. And so the three of us went home, and for a few weeks, we were the happiest damn family you've ever seen. Even when none of us had slept for days, we were happy, things were perfect. And then... they weren't. The infection got worse and my wife was rushed to hospital and it was too late and the doctors said there was nothing they could do. So obviously I wanted to stay with her, but she told me to go home and look after JJ, and so I left, and when I went back to the hospital next day to visit... yeah, it turned out there was no reason for me to show up there anymore."

Jensen swallowed hard, trying to get rid of the tears in his eyes, and it definitely hadn't been a good idea to have this conversation in public, but apparently he was a stubborn asshole who couldn't make good decisions. "So ever since then it's just been me and JJ. And the plan? It hasn't exactly been working out so great. Because JJ has to go to daycare, which isn't something I ever wanted for her, even if this _is_ the best damn daycare in the world, no exceptions. And even though I work full time, money's still tight. JJ hardly sees me and she never sees her mother and... yeah, I don't know what else I can say here, except, I try my best, but I don't think it's ever gonna be good enough, and that's why I try not to think about any of this. Ever. So yeah. It probably wasn't what you expected when you asked for the gossip on my wife. But that's the truth, and it's not going away."

Misha gave Jensen a few seconds to make sure he really had finished talking, and then he reached over and wrapped Jensen up in a tight hug, because that was really the best thing he could say. He wasn't sure how Jensen would feel about being hugged in public, especially a hug like this, but Jensen completely melted into his arms, sagging against Misha's shoulder, wrapping his arms around him just as tightly, and they stayed like that for far, far longer than most hugs should last, but neither of them really minded.

"Thankyou for telling me," Misha whispered when they finally pulled away, and when the hell did it get dark outside? "I definitely should not have pushed that, and I still feel bad about it, but even so... it means a lot to me that you shared this."

Jensen shrugged, back to brushing everything off again. "Yeah. Well. It's been years and I felt like I had to tell somebody and who better than you?"

Misha shook his head, because this definitely wasn't about him. "I hope talking about it helped. Even if it might not feel like it right now."

"Thanks," Jensen nodded, and then he opened his mouth as if he was going to say something else, but he changed his mind.

He glanced around the room. "Where'd everyone go?"

"Home, I expect," Misha suggested.

Jensen frowned, still confused. Even Felicia had disappeared. It was just him, Misha, and JJ playing happily on the floor, entertaining herself at the toy kitchen (which seemed to be her favorite place to play) and not paying any attention to the two of them. "Is it really that late?"

"We were hugging for rather a long time," Misha smirked.

Jensen blushed and nodded. "Yes, well, it was... a good hug."

"A very good hug indeed."

The two of them stared at each other, contemplating the very good hug they had just shared. The very good, very long hug they had just shared.

It was the kind of very good, very long hug that Jensen wouldn't have minded having more often. He didn't get a whole lot of hugs. Jared hugged him sometimes, but that was a different sort of hug. He didn't know in what way it was a different sort, but it definitely was.

His eyes fell to Misha's lips, and he swallowed, hard.

He'd never had that kind of reaction to Jared's lips after a hug, that was for sure.

"You okay?" Misha asked, his voice deeper than usual, his eyes trained on Jensen's, and he seemed to know exactly where Jensen was looking.

Jensen's eyes snapped back up to Misha's. He wondered if he looked as guilty as he felt. "Yeah. I'm really good, actually. Feeling a lot better now that I know you're not mad at me for the way I acted last night." It was an effort to make the words, because there was a lump in his throat, but it was no longer from trying not to cry.

"I feel the same, Jensen," Misha replied, and Jensen's eyes fell back to Misha's lips at the exact moment that Misha said his name.

Jensen stared. His own lips parted, in surprise, or maybe in invitation, he wasn't sure which.

Misha didn't challenge him this time. His eyes were on Jensen's own lips, the two of them breathing heavily, each of them waiting for the tiny burst of courage they needed to actually do something.

Jensen's heart raced, wondering if Misha would stop him if he just--

"Daddy, I made you a sandwich!"

JJ came running up to Jensen, grabbing him by the hand. She looked excited, holding a plastic sandwich in her other hand that she'd made from sticking an assortment of plastic Velcro food together. She shoved it into his hand, beaming, pleased with herself.

Jensen plastered on a fake smile. "Wow, sweetheart, you really did! This looks delicious, one of my favorites!"

He raised it to his lips and took a large pretend bite, just like Misha always did when the kids made him things, chomping down and making pleased noises. JJ giggled.

"Can I have a bite too?" Misha asked, amused, and without waiting for permission he leaned in and repeated the action. His lips were maybe an inch away from Jensen's fingers, but they didn't quite touch. It wouldn't have been appropriate to do anything now, not now that the focus was on JJ.

But both of them couldn't help wondering, if she hadn't been there, if she'd decided she needed to cook Jensen's sandwich for just another minute longer...

Jensen shook his head, handing the sandwich back to JJ and then scooping his daughter up in his arms. "Speaking of sandwiches. We should really go home and get you some real food, shouldn't we? You must be hungry after all that cooking."

"Can we have sandwiches?" she requested, blinking up at Jensen, who could never say no to that face.

"Sure we can. We can stop off somewhere on the way home, buy some fresh bread for them."

He turned to Misha, offering a salute with his free hand. "You, uh, you have a good night now, won't you?"

Misha nodded. "I think this is already a good night."

Jensen scowled, and he just about hated the man right now, because he wasn't going to get a wink of sleep now - not now he had to lie awake and puzzle over exactly what Misha had meant by that.

\--

As soon as the digital clocks on the synced-up company computers ticked over to twelve PM, Jared was out of his seat. He grabbed Jensen by the shoulder and hauled him up from his own chair while Jensen was still in the middle of typing a sentence, frog-marching him into the break room. "Alright. What the hell's going on?"

Jensen scowled, shaking Jared off. "You could at least have let me finish my email before you decided to kidnap me."

"Sure, yeah, I could have done. But I've been watching you mope all morning. You've been doing everything slow and your face is all sad and you haven't checked your hair in the mirror _once_. Something's wrong, and you're not gonna tell me unless I make you."

"It doesn't matter. And you should have been paying attention to your own work, not watching me, stalker."

Jared pushed Jensen down into another seat and slid a Tupperware pot into the microwave. "You've got two minutes til the pasta's ready."

Jensen perked up. "With red meat sauce?"

"Of course. What do you take me for, the kind of friend who forgets your favorite food?"

Jensen sighed. The problem was that as much as he tried to pretend he found it creepy, it secretly meant a lot to him that Jared noticed and remembered all the small things about him. And he knew Jared was a stubborn dick who definitely wouldn't drop the matter any time soon. So he supposed he might as well give in.

"It's Misha. You remember me talking about him, right, he's the guy that works at the daycare where-"

Jared held up a hand, cutting him off. "Yeah, Jen, I know who Misha is. You've been talking about him pretty much nonstop for the past few months."

"I have not!" The accusation momentarily distracted Jensen from his other torment.

"Yeah, you have. Every time I show you a funny video, it's always, 'give me the link so I can show that to Misha tonight', everything I say it's, 'that reminds me of something Misha said this morning!'" Jared smirked, doing a fairly terrible imitation of Jensen. "I wouldn't be surprised if he was your phone lockscreen by this point."

Jensen pulled out his phone, showing Jared the lockscreen, which was still a picture of Jensen and Jared wearing ugly sweaters and silly hats at last year's work Christmas party. "You got nothing to worry about, I'm never changing this."

Jared grinned, and at that moment the microwave timer bleeped. He stuck a fork in the food and plopped it on the table in front of Jensen, sitting down opposite him. "Good. Now, eat and talk."

Jensen dug into the pasta, shoving a few forkfuls of the stuff into his mouth and trying to stop himself from moaning around it, before he actually said anything. Once he'd cleared the top layer (the best part, because the cheese was on the top) he took a temporary pause to explain the situation.

"So, it's like this. I know you're gonna laugh at me and I'm expecting that, but, I sure as hell can't think of anyone else who I'd ever want to tell about any of this, so here goes. I talk to this guy every morning and every afternoon and he makes me laugh harder than I've ever laughed in my life. He makes me into a better person, someone who wants to do nice things for others instead of just blindly living my own life. And he makes me lose all track of time just cause I've never met anyone quite so... captivating. And I know I sound like a sap here and I should really shut up but, I'm pretty sure I have a crush on him."

"Any fool could see that," Jared snorted. "So you have a crush on him. So what? If you guys talk for as long as you're saying you do, then it sounds like he probably has a crush on you too."

"The point is, it's inappropriate!" Jensen complained, banging his head on the table, only just managing to avoid the pasta. "He's probably just being polite cause he takes care of JJ and everything. And because he's a good person who doesn't want to make me feel bad. And I can't ask him out because he'll probably just feel guilty that he gave me the wrong impression and then things will be weird between us, and I don't care about that so much, because if it was just about me, it'd be worth the risk. But it's not. It's about JJ too and she loves Misha more than anything and I can't do something that might mess things up for the two of them."

Jared sighed, running a hand through his hair, patiently waiting for Jensen to finish his rant. "Alright. How many kids at this daycare on any given day?"

Jensen didn't really see how that was relevant, but he went with it. "I dunno. Twenty or so?"

"And how long does Misha spend talking to you? How many other parents does he wave out of the door with their kids at closing time, before turning back to you? Are there any other parents there besides you who he has these long conversations with, twice a day?"

"No..." Jensen thought back to every time he'd ever seen Misha. He couldn't remember more than one or two occasions he'd seen Misha in conversation with a different parent. There were definitely no other familiar faces that stood out to him.

"Look, I've never met the guy, I haven't seen you two interact, but the way I see it, you're way more than JJ's dad to him. And sure, maybe he only sees you as a close friend. There's always going to be that chance. But-"

"He almost kissed me."

Jensen hadn't been planning to tell Jared about that. He said it completely by accident, and as soon as he had, he clapped a hand over his mouth.

"What?" Jared spluttered. "And you didn't think to open with this?"

"I mean, I _think_ he almost kissed me. Last night. That's what started this... panic, I guess you'd call it."

"Well, then, problem fucking solved! He likes you! And he's probably scared about a lot of the same shit you are, if I'm honest. If you make the first move, he'll be relieved, because it'll mean he doesn't have to."

Jensen groaned, slumping down further into his chair. Why did it always have to be him?

But- "I haven't felt this way about anyone since my wife," he whispered.

A small smile spread over Jared's face, and his voice turned soft. "I'd love to meet him, you know. Anyone who makes you this happy is definitely someone I want in my life."

Jensen nodded. He liked that idea too. If he could get Jared, Misha and JJ all in the same room, that would be the three most important people to him, all together, and that sounded pretty damn incredible. "Yeah. I'll see if I can make that happen."

"You know, there's a girl I kind of like too right now," Jared confessed. "She works downstairs, in marketing. Gen. I don't know if you've met her, but she and I run into each other sometimes and we talk and... I've been thinking of maybe asking her out for coffee. If things work out, maybe we could set up a double date sometimes."

"Whoa, no need to get ahead of yourself there. That's a lot of 'what ifs', man." Jensen held up a hand in protest, even as he was stuffing his face with pasta once again.

He swallowed. "But, yeah. That sounds pretty great."

\--

By the end of that lunch break, Jensen and Jared had made a pact. The two of them both had twenty-four hours to ask out the people they were obsessing over (although Jensen was incredibly impressed that Jared had managed to keep his obsession so much quieter) and if they failed to do so, the other was allowed to take whatever revenge they saw fit. Jensen had experienced Jared's pranks before and had no desire to be on the receiving end of any more, so he thought this was a pretty damn good incentive to make sure he got the thing done. And it meant that one way or another, by lunchtime tomorrow, he'd know for sure if anything could ever happen between him and Misha.

Which was a relief, since it meant he might start getting some sleep again - but it was also pretty damn terrifying.

One thing was for certain. He did not want to do this at five thirty in the evening surrounded by screaming children while other parents filtered in and out of the room. That was quite possibly the worst way he could think of to ask someone out.

So he decided to call in a favor.

He knocked on the side of the cubicle next to him. "Jared. Hey. Jared!"

Jared's head appeared over the wall. "What's up, Mr. Get All Your Work Done And Don't Waste Company Time By Talking?"

Jensen rolled his eyes. Yes, that might have been something he'd said once or twice, but this was an emergency! "What are you doing tonight?"

"Mostly planning my outfit for tomorrow morning. I want to look good, but not like I purposefully picked out clothes for the occasion, you know?"

Jensen nodded. "Well, here's an idea. How about you babysit for me so that I can go talk to Misha and have some peace and quiet with him, and then you can raid my closet, and you'll have twice the outfit possibilities you would otherwise?"

Jared looked skeptical, like he didn't believe that this offer wasn't completely out of the goodness of Jensen's heart. "There's a lot of jokes I could make here about your closet."

Jensen rolled his eyes. "You going to do it or not?"

"Yeah, course I will."

It felt strange, picking JJ up from the daycare that night. Jensen talked to Misha, same as usual, and he hoped he was a good enough actor that Misha didn't notice anything was wrong with him, but during the whole conversation, Jensen kept thinking to himself - _in a couple of hours, I'll be back. He has no idea, but I'll be back, to do something that's going to change things between us. Maybe forever._

He couldn't remember ever being more scared.

It was the waiting that killed him more than anything, so he tried to distract himself by taking care of JJ, making her dinner, reading her a very early bedtime story, and laughing as Jared swooped her high into the air the moment he walked through the front door (he'd figured out where the spare key was a long time ago, and Jensen was mostly used to the random interruptions, even if they were guaranteed to end in his own fridge being completely decimated.)

Jensen hovered in the living room, pretending to pay attention to the episode of Sesame Street that Jared and JJ were watching, busying himself with tidying up a few toys, until Jared accused him-

"You're stalling."

"No I'm not."

Jared sighed, setting JJ down on the couch for a moment, grabbing Jensen by the shoulder and guiding him to the front door. "Go get him, tiger."

Jensen couldn't argue any further.

\--

"Jensen?"

Jensen had absolutely no idea how to read the expression on Misha's face. It was surprise, mostly, that much was for sure - but was it the good or the bad kind of surprise? He couldn't tell.

"I'm sorry. I know this is way out of line, and you definitely don't want to be disturbed when you're not working. Say the word and I'll leave."

"You're right." Misha stepped aside and gestured for Jensen to come in. "Most of the parents, I'd be annoyed. But I don't mind you showing up. And I get the feeling this isn't about work, anyway."

Jensen blushed. Had he really been that obvious? "You're way too good at reading people."

"Not as good as you think," Misha shrugged.

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"Anyway," Misha continued, clearing his throat. "Before you tell me what's on your mind that meant you had to come all the way out here after dark, can I get you anything? Water? Orange juice? Even got some beer upstairs, but don't tell the kids."

Jensen laughed, and his throat was dry, but at the same time his stomach was twisting and he wasn't sure he'd even be able to drink anything right now. "I'm good for now. Thanks, though."

"Well, I definitely need a cup of tea after the day I've had. Can we talk in the kitchen?"

Jensen nodded. He didn't much care where they'd talked, since he was sure it wouldn't make too much of a difference to Misha's answer.

They made it into the kitchen, and Misha busied himself with filling a teapot with water and setting it on the stove to boil. Jensen thought it was pretty adorable that he had a teapot, especially one painted with a blue Fair Isle pattern, but he held his tongue and didn't actually say that. He also stopped himself from watching Misha's ass in those clingy sweatpants, staring out of the window at the sunset instead.

When he was done, Misha jumped up onto the table and gave Jensen his full attention. "Alright. What's going on?"

Jensen felt some serious deja vu when comparing the moment to his conversation with Jared earlier that same day. This was way too much talking about his feelings for one day. Right now, all he wanted to do was crash in his own living room and watch the game and definitely not do any kind of emotional stuff for a good long while.

That said, he also wanted to keep staring into Misha's big blue eyes, so maybe it would be worth it.

"So here's the thing," Jensen began, his voice trembling. "We met the first day I came to drop off JJ at the daycare, and one of the kids spilled yellow paint on me, and looking back on that, it seems like a really appropriate way for us to meet. Because I don't know about you, but first and foremost yellow always reminds me of sunshine. And sunshine is exactly what you've brought into my life. Everything is just a little bit better when you're around, and even just thinking of you helps brighten me up a little. It's like how when it's spring and the sun comes out you walk a bit faster, hold your head a little higher, every step feels lighter. That's what you do to me. I think that's probably what you do to everyone."

Misha stared at him in disbelief. "You hired a babysitter and came all the way here just to say that?"

Jensen took a few deep breaths, trying to calm his own nerves. "Not quite. There's more."

Misha waited patiently. Jensen would have almost preferred one of his wisecracks.

"I want everyone to be able to appreciate this sunshine effect. I do. And I think they always will - the kids, the staff, the parents, even just random people you meet on the street. But sometimes when people like the sun, when they really, _really_ like it, they decide to, I don't know, move to Florida. Just so they can see more of it. Maybe they want to see the sun not just occasionally, but also later into the evening, and at Christmas, for example. Do you see what I'm saying?"

Jensen hoped Misha did understand. He really didn't want to have to explain further.

Misha jumped down from the table and walked over to Jensen, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It sounds like you are doing a terrible job of asking me on a date."

Jensen's face fell and his chest tightened, hating himself for even daring to get his hopes up. "I'm sorry. It's been years since I asked someone out. It was stupid, just forget I said anything, yeah?"

"I didn't say no. It was objectively terrible asking, yes, but I'm sure you can't help being distracted by my looks."

Jensen half-gasped and half-laughed in surprise. "What?"

"Sorry. Bad joke." Misha slapped himself on the wrist.

"No, it's fine, you're... not wrong, actually," Jensen admitted, casting his eyes to the ground.

As soon as he said it, he knew it had been a ridiculously stupid idea. He should not give Misha that kind of ammunition against him. What did it say about him that all the people he chose to surround himself with were horrible pranksters?

"Oh, am I not?" Misha set his tea down on the counter and sauntered over to Jensen, until he was right in front of him - Jensen would only have to twitch and he and Misha would be touching. And, sure, there had been all kinds of friendly touches on the arm between the two of them before, but... this would be different. It was dark, it was quiet, they were alone, and everything that happened here would be so much more intimate. 

Misha smirked. "Care to talk a little more about my good looks, Jensen?"

Jensen took a deep, shuddering breath. He couldn't think about anything _but_ Misha's good looks, not at this proximity.

"Your hair. I know it's probably stress, you running your hands through it a million times a day when the kids are around, but God, I see it and all I can think of is - is that what his hair looks like after sex? And then there's your eyes. They're so blue, and they shine like when light reflects off the ocean, and there's so much depth to them too. I could stare at them for hours. I will. I am." He swallowed hard. "Your stubble, the way you let it grow out just a little bit too long - I always get a bit disappointed when I see you've shaved. I'm not sure why. But I love imagining the way it would feel against my chin. Maybe some other places too... And then your lips, I don't even know where to begin with those lips. I know you probably don't even use anything on them, but I've never seen a pair of lips so soft in my life, and every time I see them, they're a temptation, and I have to stop myself from-"

Jensen had been fully prepared to keep going, to work his way down Misha's body from his head to his feet, detailing everything that made the other man as attractive as he was. But he was rudely cut off at that exact moment when those soft pink lips he'd been going into raptures about a moment ago met his own, causing his words to die out into a soft sigh.

And, yes, they felt every bit as good as he had hoped they would.

Misha was a sinfully good kisser, and as things got deeper and more passionate, Misha backing Jensen into the kitchen wall and pressing against him,  Jensen felt himself beginning to get hard in his pants. The two of them were pressed so tightly together that he knew Misha could feel it too, and it didn't take Jensen long to realize that he could probably come in his pants just from Misha's kisses if they both tried hard enough. Perhaps one day when he was braver, he'd suggest it. Right now, all he could do was moan into Misha's mouth, hands scrabbling at Misha's dark blue sweater, trying to cling onto something so he didn't pass out from the pleasure he was already feeling.

Then, Misha thrust his thigh forwards, right against Jensen's cock, and he was almost done for right there. He pulled away and buried his face in Misha's shoulder, accidentally sinking his teeth deep into the soft skin of his neck, and Jensen couldn't quite tell who groaned louder.

This definitely wasn't what Jensen had been planning when he'd followed Misha into the kitchen that evening, but fuck, there was no way he was going to stop, not now, not when Misha's thigh was so perfect for him to rub himself against, not when Misha was actively encouraging him by grinding forward so that their hips met, over and over again. Jensen was still in his work pants, he dimly realized, ones he was supposed to wear again tomorrow, and he should definitely pull back at least long enough to take them off - but no, at that moment Misha changed the angle just slightly, and now that was Misha's very hard cock rubbing against Jensen's own, and Jensen wasn't moving for anything.

He bit down on Misha's neck for a second time, just because he wanted to get that reaction out of Misha again, sucking hard and doing his best to leave a decent mark. Then he pulled back and claimed Misha's lips again, because he couldn't get enough of them. Misha kissed like it was the only important thing he'd ever done or ever would do, and it made Jensen's head spin.

"God, Misha, don't ever stop," Jensen moaned when he pulled away, completely unnecessarily, because it definitely didn't seem like Misha had any intention of stopping. He gripped Jensen's hips in both of his hands, his thumbs dipping underneath Jensen's waistband, pressing in hard enough to leave bruises, and he took control of the rhythm, pulling Jensen towards him over and over again. Each thrust brought their cocks together with perfect, head-spinning friction, and Jensen thought that his brain was going to literally melt if this started to feel any better than it already did, and he didn't even care, because this was everything he could possibly have imagined, and they hadn't even got their clothes off.

"Not gonna stop, it's okay, baby, I've got you," Misha panted, and something about the pet name completely broke Jensen. He grabbed Misha's ass with one hand and squeezed, hard, his other hand slipping up the back of Misha's soft blue sweater to scratch at his back, Jensen pressing sloppy kisses to Misha's neck, unable to concentrate on anything but Misha and how good every single point of contact between the two of them felt, his entire body trembling from the intensity of all of it, his cock leaking more precome into his boxers with every uncontrolled jerk of his hips.

Misha was grunting, moving faster and faster against Jensen, who himself was impressed that he'd managed to hold out this long - but he definitely wasn't going to last much longer, not while watching the usually 'composed in the face of any crisis' Misha fall apart in his arms. With a few more whimpers that Jensen definitely wouldn't admit to later, he was exploding inside his pants, his come soaking through them right away as he buried his head in Misha's shoulder and whined his name.

"Fuck!" Misha cursed, and he grabbed Jensen's hand and shoved it down the front of his sweatpants. He wasn't wearing anything underneath them. Jensen's hand closed around Misha's hot, hard cock, and his own cock twitched, and he thought that it probably wouldn't take too much of this to get him going all over again. But it didn't come to that. He only had to pump Misha's cock three or four times before Misha was coming too, sagging against Jensen as hot ropes of come burst all over Jensen's hand.

They were silent for a moment, and then Misha said in a surprisingly deadpan voice, "Well, shit."

Jensen nodded, still panting, breathless. "I, uh, I hope that's the good kind of 'well, shit'?"

"Nope, it's the bad kind. My tea's cold. That was the good stuff, too!" Misha cast a mournful glance over to his still-full cup on the countertop.

The two of them stared at the cup for a moment, and then both of them burst into shaky laughter.

When they'd calmed down, Misha grabbed a wad of tissues from the side. "I'm, uh, I'm sorry about your hand. Got a bit caught up in the moment there."

"God, don't apologize," Jensen breathed, grabbing the tissues and cleaning himself off a bit. "That was more than worth the mess."

"I'm glad," Misha grinned, guiding Jensen into one of the kitchen chairs, which was definitely a wise move, since both of their legs had turned to jelly.

Jensen pulled their chairs close together and leaned against Misha's shoulder. Before what had just happened between them, he'd never have dared do anything so... couple-like, but now it seemed like a natural movement.

Misha definitely agreed, if the hand running through Jensen's hair was any indication.

"So, what would you like to do now? Because as nice as this is, these wooden chairs are perhaps not the most comfortable place to cuddle," Misha finally said, breaking the silence. "I didn't get a chance to eat anything before you showed up at my door demanding to confess your feelings for me, so I wouldn't mind getting some food at some point. Apart from that, whatever you'd like to do is fine."

"Food sounds awesome," Jensen agreed, reluctantly pulling away from Misha and glancing down to see how obvious the stain on his pants was. "I think I'm presentable enough to go to a restaurant, so long as it's not too fancy. My treat."

"Your treat, maybe, but the pleasure of your company will be all mine," Misha smirked.

"You smooth fucker." Jensen took Misha's hand and led him out of the room.

\--

They both ended up going back to Jensen's place after dinner. There were discussions for a while, but they couldn't force Jared to take care of JJ all night, and neither of them much liked the idea of spending the night alone when they would be far better off spending it curled up around each other, so they decided to brave Jared's teasing and head back there together.

Jared wasn't as bad as he could have been, all things considered. He left, carrying a smart striped work shirt on a hanger, with only the comment, "So it looks like you two had a good night." But his eyebrow waggle in Jensen's general direction told Jensen that things would be much worse tomorrow.

Jensen checked on JJ, who was sound asleep bundled up in her favorite fleece pajamas, and then he led Misha into his bedroom. He hadn't had anybody else in there for years, but it didn't feel strange. It was Misha. Misha was already strange enough himself; he didn't leave room for anything _else_ to be strange.

The two of them woke together the next day, and Jensen was already so used to being around Misha first thing in the morning when he was barely awake or functional that he didn't find _that_ odd, either.

He cooked breakfast, showing off a little bit with plates of beautifully tossed scrambled eggs and bacon rather than the cereal and coffee he usually stuck to on weekdays.

"Want me to get JJ ready?" Misha offered like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"I- she doesn't know you're here, remember?"

"She will soon," Misha shrugged.

Jensen considered for a second, then shook his head, throwing the eggs and bacon onto three plates. "Nope, you tuck in. I'll go get her, we'll be down in a moment."

Misha looked confused, but Jensen appeared downstairs not even five minutes later, and the three of them all got to enjoy JJ's scream of delight upon seeing her favorite person even earlier in the day than she'd expected - and Misha understood.

\--

“Ready to go?”  


Jensen studied himself in the mirror on the back of his bedroom door. Misha had picked out a pink button down shirt over Jensen’s best fitting pair of jeans for him to wear that night, but it was Jensen who’d come up with the idea of accessorizing with the jacket that Misha had loaned to him the first time they’d ever met.

It wasn’t by any means their first double date with Jared and Gen. By this point they’d lost count; the four of them enjoying each other’s company so much that they chose to spend plenty of nights together even when they hadn’t officially made plans; one couple just calling up the other and suggesting a movie or a board game. Tonight, however, was a little more significant. Tonight marked one year to the day since Jensen and Misha had first met, since Jensen's jacket had been effectively ruined with yellow poster paint, and since his heart had been ruined for anyone who wasn't Misha.

"I'm ready to go anywhere with you, sweetheart."

Misha rolled his eyes. "That was terrible. And I don't think 'anywhere' is really necessary, since I was only planning on walking three blocks to Jared and Gen's house."

"Yeah, yeah. You know, just because you're used to my smooth lines by now doesn't mean they're not good!"

JJ emerged from her room in her brand new Rapunzel dress, giving both of them a twirl, and each of them took one of her hands as they strolled through the streets. Every so often she jumped, and the two of them swung her so that she flew through the air, her skirts catching on the breeze, and it was no time at all before the little family arrived on their friends' doorstep.

They rang the doorbell.

There was a scuffling from inside, two muffled voices fighting about something, a bang, a loud "Ouch!" - and then the door swung open.

Jared and Gen were probably there, but all Jensen could see was a mop of soft brown hair and two pairs of legs, because the two of them were holding up a large canvas, covered in photos and trinkets, some of them of Jensen and Misha and JJ themselves, but there was also a picture of the windowsill in the nursery, and one of the restaurant where they'd had their first official date. All the different memories they'd shared together were represented, and in the middle, in a huge splotch of yellow paint, the canvas read 'Happy Anniversary Jensen & Misha.'

The two of them stared at it, blinking, trying to figure out if this montage of the best year of their lives actually existed, or if it was just some kind of shared hallucination.

"Well, do you like it?" Gen finally asked. "Because my arms are starting to hurt holding this up!"

"What the hell is this?"

Jared took the canvas and rested it against the wall. "We wanted you to have something to remember this year by. You two clearly make each other so happy. And Jensen comes into work every day and he tells me all the stories about what you two get up to and I laugh at him for being a sap, but I listen, and you guys do so _much_ that Gen and I figured... after a while you might forget things. And we didn't want that. Especially not the important things like this. So... we called in a few favors, recruited Felicia to help, and we made you this."

Misha shook his head in disbelief. "This must have taken forever. We don't deserve something like this."

"Of course you do," Gen corrected him. "You two do so much for everyone around you. We thought it was about time someone did something for you."

"It's not even our real anniversary, you're not supposed to get us presents, you're supposed to be saving up for your vacation..." Jensen tried to protest.

Jared glanced at his girlfriend and the two of them exchanged warm smiles, and then he looked back to the other family and said, "It was our attempt at a random act of kindness."

Misha had to fight back a few tears.

"Alright," Gen cleared her throat. "Let's leave the lovebirds to be sappy for a few minutes. JJ, do you want to come help us finish up making dinner?"

"Yes, Auntie Gen!" JJ bounced after the two of them into the kitchen, and Jensen and Misha were alone in the hallway, staring at what their friends had made for them to celebrate all the time they'd spent together.

And it seemed like the perfect moment for Jensen to finally bring up the subject he'd been so nervous about mentioning.

Jensen took Misha’s hands in both of his. He looked him dead in the eye, and said very seriously, “Misha, I have a question for you.”

Misha’s eyes widened and his heart sped up. He had to swallow twice before he replied, “Yes?”

“I need you to think very carefully before answering, because this is a really important question for our entire relationship. Actually, if I’m honest with myself, I’ve wanted to ask you this ever since the first time we met.”

This time, Misha couldn’t even manage words. He could just watch Jensen, waiting to see what this question would be, if it could possibly be any of the crazy, wonderful ideas flooding his brain right now--

Jensen leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Misha’s lips before pulling back and whispering, “What exactly happened in the Great F-Word Incident of 2009?”

\-- THE END. --

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**Author's Note:**

> Hate me for the ending? Come yell at me about Cockles at **casandsip.tumblr.com**


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